True Colors by Joyce Lamb Read Free Book Online Page A

waste of time, and all she really wanted to do was lie down and jam a pillow over her head.
    Then, as if things couldn’t get any weirder, Charlie shared a warm hug with the faux psychic and brushed a light kiss over one of the older woman’s awesome cheekbones.
    “Alex, this is AnnaCoreen Tesch,” Charlie said.
    Alex nodded in greeting but kept her hand to herself. No way did she plan to touch anyone else until she knew what the hell was going on.
    AnnaCoreen’s lips took on an amused quirk as she looked Alex up and down. “My goodness, but you are gorgeous.”
    Alex felt her eyes widen. Okay, not what she was expecting. And so beside the point. Somehow, she’d fallen down her very own rabbit hole. Perhaps this was the Queen of Hearts. No, had to be the Mad Hatter. Or maybe Charlie was the Mad Hatter . . . Man, that would suck. The most sane, logical woman on the planet suddenly a crackpot? An empathic crackpot.
    AnnaCoreen glanced from Alex to Charlie and back again. “So very obviously sisters, too. Look at the both of you, all that thick dark hair and lovely shades of brown and gold in your eyes. Your Nana must have just wanted to eat you both up when you were youngsters.”
    Laughing, Charlie launched into a story. “Nana pretended to capture and eat Alex’s nose once, saying it was the best white chocolate she’d ever had, and Alex screamed bloody murder until she gave it back.”
    AnnaCoreen smiled, showing perfect white teeth. “Oh, that’s precious. Truly precious.”
    Alex smiled tolerantly. “I hate to be a party pooper, but—”
    Charlie cast an apologetic look at the older woman. “She’s not on board yet.”
    AnnaCoreen’s grin didn’t falter. “How can she be? She’s been blindsided.”
    Alex almost rolled her eyes. Please. This was such bullshit. Whatever was going on with her . . . well, it’d go away. She’d get a good night’s sleep, eat better, do some exercise, and she’d be fine. “Look—”
    “I’m afraid there are no miracle cures for empathy, my dear child,” AnnaCoreen said. “Why don’t we go inside, have some tea and talk? You’ll feel better afterward.”
    As AnnaCoreen turned, Alex gave Charlie a questioning look.
    Charlie shrugged. “She does that sometimes.”
    “Does what?” Alex wasn’t willing to concede what she’d been thinking.
    “Reads your mind.”
    “Can she? For real?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “If that woman is psychic, I’ll eat my camera,” Alex whispered as she followed Charlie and AnnaCoreen around the side of the ugly shack.
    “Probably be more pleasant for you in the long run if you said you’d eat a box of doughnuts,” Charlie whispered back. “Krispy Kremes.”
    Alex didn’t respond, too taken aback as they followed a brick path through an explosion of flowers in vibrant oranges and pinks and reds to the back door of a small bright yellow house trimmed in white. She could hear the gentle roll and retreat of the Gulf waves on the other side of the house, scent the salt and flowers in the air. Under her shoes, the grit of sand rasped. So very normal on such an abnormal day.
    “Relax,” Charlie said softly. “If you’re not convinced in ten minutes, we’ll leave.”
    Alex shot her a rueful glance. “You think it’ll take only ten minutes?”
    “I’m sure of it.”
    Alex forced her shoulders back and tried to roll the tension out of her neck. “Okay. Ten minutes. And I’m not drinking anything in that ten minutes. She probably doses you with some kind of potion. Or, wait, I bet she hypnotizes you.”
    “You’d buy hypnotism over empathy,” Charlie said in a dry tone.
    Alex shook her head. Charlie wasn’t the only one who’d lost her grip. “You know what I mean.”
    AnnaCoreen opened the back door to the house and gestured them inside. “Have a seat in the front room while I make some tea.”
    Alex bit back the urge to grumble “I hate tea” under her breath. And, honestly, she couldn’t bring herself to be such